News Briefing on Canada Truckers Protest Vs EndSars by Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed

I am sure you journalists are watching with keen interest the events unfolding in Canada, where truckers are protesting over Covid-19 vaccine mandates and other Covid-19 restrictions

The Canadian protesters, who have blockaded roads and resorted to inconveniencing others, have been branded as terrorists or insurrectionists and subjected to a number of clampdowns by government and private organizations.

The crowdfunding company GoFundMe has shut down the campaign to raise funds for the truckers, after they raised over US$10m, Twitter has suspended the truckers account while the Ontario government has frozen access to millions of dollars donated through online fundraising platform GiveSendGo to the protesters.

Jim Watson, the Mayor of Ottawa, Canada’s capital city, has also declared a state of emergency in the city in response, saying the protests posed a threat to residents' safety.

Recall, gentlemen, that during the EndSars protest, which culminated in the blockage of public roads and massive destruction of government and private property, Canada was one of the countries that spoke out in support of the protesters.

Recall also that Twitter actively supported the EndSars protesters and even helped them to raise fund while GoFundMe was used to raise funds for the protests.

These are the same entities that are now rushing to distance themselves from the protesters in Canada and even denying them the use of their platforms.

This is similar to what played out during the January 6th 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol In Washington, D.C. where those involved are either still being investigated or have been charged to court. I don’t blame them. Nobody wants their country destroyed under the guise of protests.

Don’t misunderstand this intervention. We are not gloating over the unfortunate development in Canada. But we are only calling attention to the double standard involved in the way protesters deemed to be violent are perceived in Nigeria and in the West.

Those who referred to the hoodlums who destroyed public and private property in Nigeria under the guise of EndSars as peaceful protesters have tagged similar protesters in their own countries as insurrectionists and terrorists. This glaring double standard should not be lost on all Nigerians.

We have always said that you must have a country before you can even enjoy the freedoms guaranteed by your country’s constitution. If there is no Nigeria, no one will be talking of freedom of expression or freedom of association and the likes.

This realization explains why every country goes the extra mile to protect and preserve itself. And this also explains why we have continued to insist on the regulation of social media to ensure responsible content. In this area, I can confidently say we are far ahead of most countries in the world, who have now realized that social media must be regulated in the interest of their own people.

In this regard, our successful negotiation with Twitter to fashion out measures to ensure a responsible use of that platform which, by the way, will also apply to other social media platforms, has made us a global trail blazer in efforts to prevent harmful content from social media platforms

Gentlemen, we must not allow anyone to destroy our country under the guise of protest or unbridled freedoms. We all must put Nigeria first at all times.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=307481021412959&id=100064531906658

Now he has a point..let me see who's sensible enough to counter and prove his Statement baseless..
The countdown starts now..

He made a valid point though

In every protest there are hoodlums that will cause trouble and affect everyone. But the military wouldn't come out and shoot but police will be very civil and only look out for the urchins that will cause trouble till der grievances or agreement with government is tabled for negotiation

.

The first time this dude is making sense since he became minister of lie sss.

Lai has not been very active online...


I miss him tho

First time the lieing machine made a bit of sense

Hmm

Lie Muhammed shame dey shame shame.

Old fool with no iota of integrity.


I jus weak like the crystal meth addict below

The funny thing was Canada government called them Terrorists
Yet if it’s China, then you will see same Canada and all her allies showing the news like China is blocking freedom of movement
For example there are massive protests going on in Belg and France but MSM will not report it.
EU offices in Belgium and France have been destroyed, police and the military have been deployed to the street yet no news about this.

That’s the reason they are using Russia this Russia that to cover up.
They want Russia to invade Ukraine to take away all their own domestic problems


https://twitter.com/AnonymeCitoyen
France right now

H

Where was your head before sir?

But so far, I've not heard that military was deployed to the protesting truckers to kill them. All we saw were the police maintaining peace, unlike here where police were seen killing peaceful protesters before hoodlums hijacked it and started burning stations and killing police in reprisals.

Again, were police not brutal on the Nigerian youths, most of whom are doing legitimate businesses? The answer is yes. You can't compare those protesting over covid-19 with those protesting over the killing of their innocent loved ones by the corrupt police here.

Again, same twitter had banned some users who had spoken or twitted disrespectfully about buhari and his government before, check it. Buhari who's an individual account holder isn't above the law of twitter. You can't compare the 2 scenarios please Lai.

The insurrection in DC was a pure act of terror. Nobody had invaded the national assembly here before in that manner. Such an act wouldn't have be taken lightly by Nigerians as well.

U

I was shocked when I read the news Canada branded them terrorists. But these same people supported endsars na, why e reach their own turn dem quickly brand dem terrorists na?

I dey always talk am say trust these western world claiming they love Africans and Africa at your own peril. Them go watch us burn to aches all they will do is take out their citizens from our country.

Make una better wise up

The West and Politics of Double-Standard

Make sense

Reading

Once again . Inferiority complex. We choose some foreign activities to justify our actions. While we are fighting for security, good governance , ending of police brutality the Govt wouldn't see examples to make from the develop nation .

Lai Mohammed. Understand that even the circumstances at which these two protests were stagged are different. Oh!! Have we forgotten Black Lives Mattter movement? Lai should have made an example from that..

Lai Mohammed should shut up. The protesters have been left alone to protest for days, if not weeks, without interruption, but they've started taking things too far by disrupting normal Canadians going about their business, interruption of the supply chain of goods and services within Canada and also across the border.

It is also pertinent to note that these protesters are not the majority of truck drivers who didn't join the protests.

Also they have started getting funding from far right groups in the US, making it all the more to look political and not a genuine protest.

Not like Nigerian protest that within that same day police or soldiers would start shooting at you for nothing.

Why our Govt dey always fear protesters. Is Canada and Nigeria the same? Are we mates?

Both situations can never be the same. Nigerians protested injustice of SARS, a few people of a particular trade are protesting and we are making comparison.

the fallout of the endsars protests was not commendable but we shouldn't compare as both scenarios are not the same.

The Canadian government provides a good atmosphere for her citizens but we are still battling amenities here and we are comparing.

No basis for comparison. These guys treat their citizens like human beings and wouldn't expect extreme behavior but we treat our own people like animals and expect them to behave like human beings.

Food for thought.

FERNANDEZISBACK:
Now he has a point..let me see who's sensible enough to counter and prove his Statement baseless..
The countdown starts now..

Please add the number of people that have been shot by soldiers since the Canada protests started?

Countdown starts.

Ok

protests in canada or anywhere in the world does not justify shooting nigerians at lekki toll gate

For the first time, Lai Mohammed is planning to make heaven